


Dreamers

by CartoonJessie



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: AU, F/M, Love, Reylo - Freeform, Teenagers, gave them different ages than in canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-23
Updated: 2017-11-23
Packaged: 2019-02-05 19:18:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12800598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CartoonJessie/pseuds/CartoonJessie
Summary: When young Ben Solo dreams of a girl who is able to calm his anxious dreams, he does not believe her to be real - until she asks for his help. In order to find her, he will need his family's assistance. But are they ready for the truth that these two young Force-users will be able to unravel together?





	Dreamers

Nightmares had plagued him for as long as he could remember.

Nightmares about the destruction of his home planet, of terrorists murdering his mother, of his father abandoning him in order to go back to a life as a smuggler. There had even been nightmares about him killing his fellow students, and nightmares of him betraying his uncle. In some nightmares, he had stood face to face and eye to eye with the most fearsome Sith lords – Darth Maul, Darth Sidious himself, and Darth Vader. Sometimes he had fought them. Other times he had ran away from them. And sometimes they had shaken his hand, like he was one of their own.

For a young teenager, those dreams had been terrifying. For a young adult, they weren’t any better.

But then, something had changed. After his eighteenth birthday, it felt like someone had been watching him – but only in his dreams. While he spent his days training with Luke and the other padawans, during his nights, there was someone else. Someone who was strong with the Force – yet remained unseen.

He had always felt some looming dark presence in his dreams, but this time it was different. Though the darkness was always there – there was something else now too.

At first, it was just a feeling, like he wasn’t the only one who was terrified and angry during his nightmares. This other presence was sharing each and every one of his emotions as violently as he was.

After several weeks, he had felt like their feelings were no longer completely in sync anymore, like she – he knew it was a she – was getting her own emotions from the sights.

And then, months later, he had caught a glimpse of her.

The first time was in a dream where his mother had been shot during some congress on Hosnian Prime, and chaos was all around him. He was trembling in anger as he held his mother’s body, crying and shouting and his anger making the entire room shake. But then, suddenly, he had felt her hand on his, and as he had looked up into this young girl’s face, she had said: “It’s not real – it’s just a dream.”

She had seemed only a few years younger than him, and she was dressed in desert rags, like she was a slave. He had blinked a few times, his anger already ebbing away as it had made way for confusion, but he had been unable to say anything in time.

He had awoken abruptly, only to see that his uncle and a few of his classmates had hurried into his room after they had felt the ground tremble. It wasn’t the first time his nightmares had woken them all up.

“Are you alright?” his uncle had asked, and he had quickly said yes and waved it away, wanting them to all go. He had seen how his uncle had bit his lip before he had left, but he knew that even the great Luke Skywalker didn’t know what to do with him. He just wasn’t like the other students.

Why weren’t they plagued by such nightmares? Why was he the only one who was cursed in this way? He had never understood why he was the only one to experience this. What was the Force trying to tell him?

But maybe it wasn’t just him.

He could not help but wonder who the girl was. She was like him – he had felt it. But was she even real? Part of him feared she was a figment of his imagination – someone he had made up to fill the void in his soul.

+++

He saw her again in many dreams after that. At first, she only appeared whenever the horror had been done, trying to comfort him, but each time he would wake in the shock of seeing her, and then she’d be gone again as he’d try to fall back asleep as fast as humanly possible. It had no use though. In the dreams that followed during those nights, he was always too late to catch sight of her again.  

It took him months before he was able to control it better – and during one dream, nearly half a year after he had first sensed her presence, he managed to get her name.

He was on Mustafar, balancing on a platform that floated in the middle of a river of lava, and one moment he was facing Darth Vader, and the next he was facing a young Obi-Wan Kenobi. He was hopelessly defending himself with a lightsaber as well as he could against either of them, even as they shifted into one another, until eventually he saw Kenobi disappear and the young girl appear again, holding Kenobi’s lightsaber, but not making any move to fight him with it.

It took her a moment to assess the situation and she held her hand out to him, and being familiar with her face now, he took it in an instant. She nodded towards the ash river bank, and they both jumped – nearly flew – at the same time before they landed in the black soil – but he did not let go of her hand. He did not dare to.

“Thank you,” he heard himself say. “For everything. I can’t begin…”

“It’s alright,” she interrupted him immediately, smiling. “I’m glad to help.”

She had no idea how much she was helping him – how much she eased his anxious mind.

“I’m Rey,” she continued, not letting go of his hand, squeezing it tightly like she knew as well as he did that letting go would mean losing him again – and meeting him in a state where he could form coherent sentences was rare enough for the both of them. “Who are you?”

“Ben,” he gave his name immediately. “Ben Solo. I’m training to be a Jedi, but it’s not going so well.”

She nodded. “I figured something like that. So you’re real?”

He was confused. “Yes I’m real!” he said defensively. “But are you? How do I know I’m not just imagining you?”

“I’m real!” she said immediately. “I live on Jakku! Do you live there too?”

The name Jakku confused him. It was an Outer Rim planet, so far away from where he was, even if one travelled by light speed.

“No… No, I’m on the other side of the Galaxy,” he said, feeling his heart sink to his stomach. “How… how do I know you’re real? Maybe I just made you up, and you live so far away because Jakku is like the furthest planet I could think of right now.”

She looked a little hurt at those words. “I am real. I hope that you are too,” she said, her tone now a little desperate. “If you are real… please help me. I need to find my family.”

He wanted to ask more, to talk to her, but she was gone again the next moment, her hand as it lay in his fading into air, and he woke the moment after, immediately rushing out of bed to talk to his uncle.

+++

Luke Skywalker had seen and heard many things in his lifetime, but when it came to his nephew, he never really knew what to think. Ben was troubled, to say the least, and he knew of the nightmares, yet knew no way to stop them – not anymore.

When the kid had been younger, the force had allowed him to shield him from most of his bad dreams. When he had not slept himself, or had slept only lightly himself, he had been able to fill the place with Light, to wrap his nephew in it, and Ben had slept well.

But the Dark side of the Force had sought him out, and Luke could not keep up. Darkness had punctured the Light, and had corrupted his soul. He had tried to give Ben the means to block out the Dark side of the Force himself, to teach him focus and meditation and to make the boy less emotional, but it had been in vain. The nightmares had gotten worse, and now they made the entire school shake, as though every Sith Lord that had ever died tried to demonstrate his power through the means of his nephew’s nightmares.

He hardly dared to fill Leia in on what was going on precisely – but deep down, he knew that she could probably pick it up in the Force that things were not as they were meant to be.

But when Ben came to his room, telling him desperately that they needed to go to Jakku, that there was a force-sensitive named Rey there, and that she needed their help to find her family, Luke didn’t know what to think.

Though he did not consider his nephew to be a liar, it was another thing to meet a stranger in a dream and travel across the galaxy to find her on a godforsaken planet. In fact, what were the odds that a force-sensitive was able to communicate with Ben in a dream? Even he had no such control over his dreams, and it was hard to believe that his nephew somehow had managed to reach out to someone on the other side of the galaxy and communicate with them – while asleep.

He didn’t want to completely shut Ben’s hopeful gaze down though, and merely said: “Try to meditate on this. Perhaps you can find her in your meditations as well – confirm that she’s real. Your mind plays tricks on you when you dream.”

Those words angered Ben, whose fists were clenched as he glared at his uncle. “She _is_ real,” he said through gritted teeth. “I’ve been dreaming of her for months! I was just never able to talk to her before! I don’t need to meditate to know that she’s real. And she needs our help. She’s alone, and she’s younger than I am, on an Outer Rim planet. What more do you need to know?”

Luke was quiet for a few moments, shaking his head. “Ben, I have a responsibility to your fellow classmates as well. We can’t just take a field trip to Jakku. It would put all of us at risk. We are hidden here – I like to keep it that way for now. I must think of the greater good.”

“If you were truly thinking of the greater good here, you’d listen to me for once,” Ben continued in anger. “Before I kill all of you because you’re all idiots.”

Though Luke called out his name, he could not stop his nephew as he left the room and slammed the door behind him. Surely Ben would have half-forgotten about this in the morning. His dreams were intense during the nights, but during the days, he could almost pass for a normal student, each and every time. Almost.

+++

Even though Luke believed he had, Ben had not forgotten about Rey. Not at all. And when that afternoon, they got the assignment to meditate, he did not stay outside in the gardens, nor did he actually go to his room. He broke into Luke’s ship, making sure no one spotted him as he crossed the draw-bridge to the platform where it waited for him. The problem with the ship was that he could not pilot it – not alone. If R2-D2 would help him, he could get out, but he knew better than to put that much faith in R2. The droid was faithful to Luke above all others.

But perhaps there were still some people that were faithful to him. Perhaps it was time to set some bad dreams aside. The moment had come for his family to prove whether they actually cared about him or not. As he sent out an encrypted signal to the last known location of the Millennium Falcon, he was surprised when only five minutes later, his father and Chewbacca popped up on the hologram.

Han Solo looked baffled for a moment, looking at his son as though it had been years – and it truly had been that long. Though Ben had sometimes gotten in contact with his mother in the past, he had not really spoken to his father in ages. Some part of him still felt like his father would rather not have him around – that his father would do more for strangers than for him. Well, today would finally prove if that was so.

“Ben…” It seemed like his father could hardly believe what he saw. “How… how are you, kid? How’s it going? I see you’ve grown your hair out.”

Now that he saw his father, part of him was more conflicted than ever. He did not truly want to ask him for help, but then he thought of Rey, and he figured that he had no choice.

“I need your help,” he said, gulping heavily when the words had left his mouth.

“Anything,” Han said immediately. “What is it? Are you alright?”

Nodding quickly, he wanted to get it out as fast as he could. “I am, but I know someone who’s not. Her name is Rey, and she lives on Jakku. She’s strong with the Force, and I’ve been able to communicate with her in my dreams. She needs help, but I can’t convince Luke to give it to her. She’s younger than I am. I think she’s like… sixteen or something. And she is all alone on a horrible planet, with no way to get out. We must do something!”

Han recognized Leia in those words. The passion with which he spoke somehow endeared him, and he nodded immediately.

“I suppose Chewie and I could go to Jakku.”

Chewbacca roared fiercely in agreement.

“No,” Ben said immediately, his heart jumping. “You don’t know what she looks like – where she lives – and I don’t have those details either. You need to come and pick me up. We’ll go and find her together. I can let the Force guide us.”

Han was quiet for small moment, his mouth not quite closed as he looked at the hologram of his son, but then he suddenly grinned.

“Deal,” he said eagerly, before he suddenly frowned. “Does Luke know you’re asking me for help?”

As Ben gulped, Han started laughing.

“To be honest, I’m not even mad,” he said. “That bastard hasn’t been in touch for too long. I’m more worried about him than I am about you sometimes!”

Ben wasn’t entirely sure if that was a compliment or not, but he did offer his dad a half-smile. “So you’ll come?”

“We’ll set a course right now. We’re a bit out of the way, but should be there in about ten hours. Make sure you’re ready to go. We gotta save your girl.”

Ben’s eye twitched at those words. “Dad, she’s not my girl!”

His father turned off the communications between them, leaving Ben fuming as he muttered angrily: “She’s not my girl…”

He kicked the panel before he slouched back into the pilot’s chair, crossing his arms while his brow was still furrowed. But his angry expression did not last for long. He couldn’t stay angry as he thought of meeting Rey. Finally he would be able to do some good with his Jedi powers – finally he would be able to make a difference, no matter how small, to someone’s life in this galaxy.

+++

He had been waiting for the Millennium Falcon in his room, looking out over the dark night sky until he saw the ship approach through the air. He grabbed his bag and headed towards the docking platform, and when the Millennium Falcon landed and the door opened, Han Solo immediately came out to greet him, hugging him tightly as he marveled at Ben’s size.

There was no way for Ben to escape his father’s grip as he stood there awkwardly, a little hunched over as he felt so much smaller than he was.

“You’re even taller than the last time I saw you! Man, look at your shoulders! I see you’ve been training a lot!”

As his father marveled at his son, Ben just wanted to leave, and he headed inside as soon as he could get out of the grasp of his father. It appeared the Falcon’s arrival had not gone unnoticed, for Luke was now approaching the ship, and Ben rushed inside as quickly as he could.

He ran straight into Chewbacca, who crushed him into an even fiercer hug than his father had given him, and he had to admit that he felt some amusement at that. He felt almost as big as the Wookie now.

“Hey Chewie,” he said softly. “Do you have the coordinates for Jakku set?”

As Chewie roared softly and headed to the cockpit, he remained behind, listening to Han and Luke as they were now fiercely arguing with one another.

“… can’t take him with you. Without me, who’s going to help with his nightmares?”

“It’s about time he learns to deal with them on his own, Luke. When was the first time he had them? I mean, you can’t think that you’re always going to be around for him. Besides, he’s my son and I haven’t seen him in years. If I can help him in this way, I will.”

“You don’t even know if this girl is real. For all we know, he’s chasing ghosts. Why haven’t I picked up her being in my own dreams, if she is so strong with the Force? He might be imagining things.”

“Girls? On Jakku? Why would he imagine those.”

“He’s lonely. He doesn’t show that he is, but he’s not making friends here. Why wouldn’t he imagine someone who cares for him?”

“Well, I for one hope she’s real,” Han said stubbornly. “He’s a young man. You were his age when we first met, and you did fine leaving your safe nest behind.”

“I didn’t have nightmares that left the entire village shaking!” Luke argued fiercely, and at this Han was quiet for a few moments.

“If the dreams are that bad, then what good is it if he’s here?”

“Are you seriously considering letting him sleep aboard the Millennium Falcon when his dreams are able to tear it apart?”

“Come on, Luke, the Falcon’s a bit stronger than that,” Han said jokingly, but it wasn’t received well by Luke, who just glared at him.

Sighing, Han tried a different argument: “Perhaps a change of scenery will do him good. And perhaps a purpose will ease his anxious mind. If he’s like me, then he doesn’t like sitting around for too long. I think I’d have angry nightmares as well if I was forced to meditate eight hours a day.”

“That’s not how meditation works!” Luke argued.

“It does to a Solo,” Han disagreed, turning his back as he headed towards the Falcon. “I’ll bring him back in one piece. Sort of. I’ll try to! We’ll see how it goes.”

As Han stepped inside the Falcon again, he slammed the button to close the hatch, looking at his son as he stood there, not quite sure how to thank his father.

Han merely smiled and tilted his head in the direction of the cockpit. “Care to be my co-pilot? I need to check if your piloting skills haven’t become too rusty in my absence.”

+++

He didn’t sleep.

Even if the trip took over a day and a half, he just couldn’t.

Luke’s words lingered in his mind. He didn’t want to tear the ship apart. Having a bad dream in such a delicate vessel as the Millennium Falcon would wreck it. (Though he would never voice the thought of finding the Falcon ‘delicate’ to his father or the Wookie.)

Part of him wanted to sleep though – if only to dream and tell Rey that he was on his way – but the risk of nightmares was too great and he was certain that he could find her even without sending her a warning in advance. It would be safer for the ship too.

When they finally flew over Jakku, he felt like he could breathe easy again. They had made it – in one piece – and now he had to find her, even if he was already exhausted from the trip.

“Where to now?” Han asked as they flew miles above the surface, but Ben didn’t know – not really.

“I… I will meditate…” he said, even if he wasn’t certain he could do this.

He closed his eyes as he relaxed in his seat, trying to sense her. For minutes, he didn’t pick up on anything, and he was almost about to give up when he felt something, like a small twinge, pulling him in another direction than the one they were headed.

With his eyes still closed, he pointed in that direction, and Han – even though he had no idea where they were headed – immediately adjusted their course.

He was begging the Force for more guidance than that, and every now and then, he felt a small pull again, until he heard his father mutter: “We’re heading right in the direction of Unkar Plutt’s region, Ben.”

Ben didn’t know who that was, didn’t care, but he felt like the link was getting stronger, and he opened his eyes to look out over the sandy dunes. He saw old wrecks of both the Empire and the Resistance in the sand beneath him, and it was like her footprint was all over them.

This was her area – this was where she roamed – and he took over the helm from his father as he suddenly realized they were close – and when he laid eyes on a fallen AT-AT, he just _knew_ she was there.

“Land here,” he said immediately, and Han took over the helm without protest while Ben rushed to the hatch before it opened.

As he stepped out into the hot sand, he realized that he wasn’t alone, and from the hull of the AT-AT, she emerged, a stick in hand, aimed defensively at him – until she recognized him.

She was exactly like he had seen her in his dreams. Three pony tails, skinny, wearing sand-colored clothing, and a face so lovely that he could not help but smile as he saw her.

She seemed equally perplexed as she stood there, looking at the massive ship in front of her home, and at the young man that had emerged from it. He looked exhausted, his shoulders were a little bent, and everything about him screamed that he was in some sort of pain that he could not deal with. But even if he had issues, he had come for her, to save her, and it was all she needed to know before she suddenly walked closer to him, which in turn led to him walking closer to her as well.

They both had hopeful little smiles on their faces, and Rey dropped her stick in the sand, not wanting him to get the idea that she did not trust him – because she did, especially after he had travelled the galaxy to come and look for her. No one ever had before.

When they were finally close enough to touch, they both halted and just looked into each other’s eyes, finding such relief and happiness, that it was hard not to grin widely.

Rey found it hard to speak and was at a complete loss for words, but she wrapped her thin arms around him as fiercely as she could, hugging him tightly.

He was alarmed for a moment, not used to such a sudden outpouring of affection, but as his heart hammered away inside of him, he realized that he had to respond in kind, and while he hugged her back, he realized that there was no warmer or better feeling in the world. He closed his eyes as he embraced her, resting his cheek against her head, the Force about her soothing him.

But it didn’t just sooth him, and Rey suddenly realized that he was falling and slipping from her grip. Unable to hold his weight, she gasped as she realized he had lost consciousness, and she let him drop to the sand as gently as she could.

She had noticed the man and the large Wookie that had emerged from the ship as well now, and asked them in a worried tone: “What’s wrong with him?”

Han was frowning as he looked at his son, not quite sure as he stepped closer, before he suddenly said: “I don’t think he’s ever hugged a girl before.”

Rey found that inappropriate to say at a time like this, and even Chewbacca roared in revolt against that horrible dad-joke, leaving Han to shrug.

“What? It’s probably true. But I think he’s exhausted. He hasn’t slept in a few days. Let’s get him aboard the Falcon, shall we?”

Han had addressed Chewbacca in that and hadn’t meant for Rey to help his son aboard, but she immediately lifted his son’s feet, and he looked surprised when he realized this girl was not going to stand by. He was even more surprised after they had put Ben in one of the bunks and she immediately lay down in the other bunk bed and said in a solemn voice: “He has nightmares.” – as though that explained why she was heading to bed too.

Han just nodded as he heard the urgency in her voice, but was terribly confused as he left the room again and closed the door behind them. As Chewie stared at him, he shrugged and just muttered: “Kids these days…”

+++

He found himself on an alien planet – amidst a crowd of thousands of joyful humans and Gungans. There was loud music, people dancing, ceremonial ships flying overhead, but he stood among some people that witnessed it very quietly – without movement – and as he looked to his side, he was quite surprised to see a face he had seen before in his dreams, but it was so much younger than he had ever seen it.

Obi-Wan Kenobi, beardless and hardly older than him, turned and smiled warmly, and he smiled back in mild confusion before he looked around. To his other side, he was surprised to see R2-D2. There was a beautiful queen present, and she stepped forward to present some orb to one of the larger Gungans. When she was done, she too smiled at him, and he didn’t really know who she reminded him of.

When he turned to Kenobi again, he was shocked to see he was no longer there, but Rey stood by his side, looking in awe at the crowds and beauty of the place, her gaze following some of the ships as they flew overhead, amused by the pilot’s tricks as they spun through the air.

“Rey…” Ben said warmly, and she turned to look at him with a wide smile.

“Ben…” Her hand linked with his, almost instinctively again, the connection between the two of them hard to break when they actually touched. “This is so beautiful. Where are we?”

“Naboo,” he said. “That woman there…” He pointed to the Queen. “She is dressed in a traditional dress from the region.”

“Interesting knowledge to have,” she remarked dryly, frowning a bit, and he chuckled.

“My mom taught me that sort of thing when I was younger. Not entirely to my liking then, but I guess it has some purpose now. Look over there…” He pointed to the side of the stage. “That’s master Yoda.”

Rey was amazed to hear and see these things, and as she wanted to roam around, she gently pulled him with her, and it was like no one even saw they were even there.

“I always thought Jedi were just stories…” she admitted. “Yet it’s hard to keep on believing this with all these dreams. Did all of this ever happen?”

He shook his head honestly. “I don’t know.” Looking back at the stage, he realized that Obi-Wan Kenobi was there again, and a small boy stood beside him, in the spot where he had stood himself before. He could not help but feel like they were watching him, and as he squeezed Rey’s hand, she followed his gaze, surprised to catch the gaze of the boy and the Jedi beside him.

They stared at each other for a long time, not moving, not talking, but fully aware that of all the things they saw, there was a conscience there, and Rey and Ben moved closer together because of it, even without realizing it.

But then everything faded, the people, the city, and darkness fell. They couldn’t even see each other again, and it was like their hands were no longer linked – but they could still feel each other around, their presence like a warmth in the other’s dark soul.

They woke at the same time, slightly disoriented and shaking, and as Rey got up in the bunk bed, she saw that he was doing the same, rubbing his eyes for a moment before he looked at her, amazed.

“How long were we asleep?” she wondered, realizing the ship had taken off already, for there was a buzz that had not been there before.

“No idea”, he admitted, stumbling out of bed with a heavy frown. “I don’t even remember going to sleep, to be honest.”

“Oh… You kind of fell… asleep… when we hugged.”

He looked at her as though she had grown an extra head then and there, not making sense of that at all. But he could remember hugging her – and then he couldn’t remember anything at all.

“Really?” He scratched the back of his neck, feeling rather ashamed of that.

She nodded as she walked a little closer to him, and he realized that the closer she got, the faster his heart beat. But even if she got his adrenaline pumping now, it was not for the wrong reasons, and he found it hard not to smile.

“Come,” he said, trying to diffuse the attention from his own blush. “Let me show you the ship. Do you want something to eat?”

+++

Han didn’t often feel like he wasn’t at home in the Falcon, but today was an exception. While his son showed the girl around, he hardly dared to leave the cockpit. Whatever it was that went on between them, it was something else alright – something Force-related, and he rather didn’t mingle with the Force. He always felt out of place.

But Ben had asked him if he could give Rey some of the Jogan fruits he had in one of the locker rooms, and he had even called him “dad” when he had asked for it.

With the door open, it wasn’t hard to overhear some parts of the conversation those kids were having, and it seemed like Ben was telling her all about his Jedi training, and every now and then, they spoke of his nightmares too, but always in hushed voices that made it impossible for him to hear just how bad they had gotten.

It seemed like they spoke for hours before they eventually came into the cockpit, together, and Han noticed how the girl had eyes for all the controls, her gaze mildly skeptical.

“It’s not a particularly young ship, is it?” she said carefully, and Han lifted an eyebrow as he turned to Ben.

“You did tell her that if she starts that kind of talk, she’s thrown out of an air hatch? I don’t care if we’re travelling at light speed.”

The girl seemed amused as she looked at him.

“I mean no offense,” she quickly apologized, and Han grinned.

“Neither do I,” he quickly assured her. “It’s a joke. I know the Falcon isn’t the youngest of ships anymore, but she’s still one of the best.”

Chewbacca purred in agreement, and Rey suddenly formerly extended her hand to Han.

“I’m Rey, by the way. I’m sorry I didn’t properly introduce myself so far. I’d kind of forgotten it.”

He eagerly shook her hand, looking at Ben to see that he didn’t even mind.

“Call me Han. This walking carpet is Chewbacca, by the way, but if he likes you, you might even get to call him Chewie.”

Rey nodded politely to the Wookie, smiling, until suddenly a realization came over her. As she looked to Ben, then back to Han, her mind started racing.

“Hold up… Is this the Millennium Falcon?” Her voice had taken on a higher pitch as she was quite excited now. “Are you Han Solo?”

They were all surprised that she had known of the Millennium Falcon, and when she started listing some of the impressive feats she had read about the Falcon, Han beamed with pride. He even offered her to take a seat as his co-pilot, and while he had intended to teach her some of the basics about travelling a ship, he was quite surprised when she fluently pushed in some buttons, not even needing him to tell her what they were for as she made the course adjustment he had suggested.

“Where did you learn that?” Ben asked in awe as he stood behind her seat, and she blushed a little as she replied over her shoulder.

“I studied some simulators. You could call it a hobby. I’ve always wanted to fly.”

They believed her, and they didn’t have the heart to keep her out of the co-pilot seat after that, and Han left his seat to his son as he went to take a nap.

“Rey…” Ben said after a few minutes of silence. “In that dream of a few nights ago… You said you needed help finding your family, but… I don’t know where to find them. Do you have any leads?”

She shook her head sadly. “Not really. Before they left me there, they told me they’d come back to Jakku, but as far as I can tell I’ve waited for eleven years, and they haven’t come.”

He was very quiet as he considered the possibility that they were dead, but he did not want to voice that thought.

“Maybe we can use the Force to guide us,” he suggested hopefully. “Maybe my uncle Luke can help, he is teaching me and the other Force Sensitives. He can teach you too. Together, I’m certain that we can figure it out. Perhaps in our dreams we’ll be able to find some answers. I feel like the Force is very strong in them.”

She nodded in agreement, finding that a better plan than any she’d ever had in regards to finding her parents.

“I can’t believe I’m finally really gone from that place. Part of me still expects to wake up in Jakku – any moment now…”

As Ben extended his hand to her, she took it, smiling happily at him.

“At least, if it’s not real… it’s a good dream,” she said softly, and he could feel the blood rise to his ears, convinced that he had to be blushing again as she looked so kindly into his eyes.

+++

Rey had never allowed herself to grow close to anyone, but during this long ride aboard the Millennium Falcon, she found herself warming up to all its passengers. She indulged Chewbacca in a game of Dejarik – and he completely annihilated her, but hugged her at the end of it. Han Solo asked her about her parents too, and about Unkar Plutt, showing her so much compassion for the situation she had found herself in since such a young age – it truly moved her to have someone care about it all. And Ben… While she had considered herself to be the rock he could lean on, she was starting to realize that it went both ways, and he assured her that he would help her find her family.

It meant the world to her.

So when they finally arrived at the Jedi temple where Luke was training his students, she was feeling emotional about saying goodbye to Han and Chewbacca. As they walked down the hatch, all together, she didn’t know what to say to Han, but he did notice a tear in her eye.

“Hey, it’s alright,” he said. “I know Luke, he’s a good guy. He’ll take care of you.”

Though she nodded, he sensed her hesitation, and he added: “And if you don’t like it here, you send me a message, alright? The Falcon could always use another co-pilot. Allows Chewie and me some time to catch up on sleep during long trips.”

Those words only made her more emotional, and as she gave him a brief hug, Han held her tightly.

“You’ll be alright, kid. Look after my son for me, will you?”

As she nodded and they let go, Han turned to Ben, who seemed a little conflicted about what to tell his father. He was certainly even more emotional than Rey, and Han noticed, immediately drawing his son into a big hug.

“Thank you,” Ben whispered, and Han felt how tears were now pricking in his eyes as well.

“Look after Rey, alright?” he asked, not letting go of Ben just yet, hoping he would not notice his father cry.

Ben nodded against his shoulder.

“And if you need me, you call me, got it?”

As Ben stepped back, his lip was trembling and his cheeks were wet, and he had seldom looked more miserable.

“I thought you didn’t want me,” he suddenly said in a small voice, and Han felt slapped by those words, but he immediately stepped closer and took the young man’s face between both of his hands.

“ _Never_ believe that,” he said with a frown. “Don’t let yourself believe that. You’re my son and I love you. I would do anything for you.”

Ben sniffed and tried to wipe the tears from his face, but it didn’t help much as he stood there with shaking shoulders.

“You need to keep an eye on your uncle though – and help Rey. And once you know where her parents are, all you need to do is let me know and we’ll look for them. Together. Alright?”

He nodded quickly, and lowered his head as his father placed a kiss on his forehead before he stepped back. Next, Chewbacca stepped closer and wiped the back of his furry paw against Ben’s wet cheeks, and he chuckled at this sensation while the Wookied purred his goodbye.

“I’ll miss you too,” Ben said. “Hopefully until soon.”

As Han and Chewie left, Ben was still sniffing and trying to get a grip on his emotions, and he startled a little when he felt Rey’s hand link with his as they watched the Falcon disappear from sight.

“I suppose I should introduce you to my uncle,” he said softly, taking a deep breath. “I bet he’s going to be surprised that he has a new student. There will finally be ten of us then.”

+++

Though he was surprised, Luke wasn’t particularly happy about Rey’s arrival.

The old Jedi’s instincts were on edge and he wasn’t sure why.

As a result, he didn’t trust her, and Ben knew that he thought she was too old to be taught the ways of the Force. Ben had often heard him say how it was important that a Jedi training started at a young age, even if that was such a hypocrite thing for him, of all Jedi, to say.

Or perhaps it wasn’t so much the fact that Rey was older that disturbed him, but the fact that he had not picked up on her, but Ben had. Or the fact that she had her own mind about things – and that she wasn’t convinced that the Jedi path was the best for her to take.

That was clear in the very first hour they met. It became very apparent when Rey asked him in a rather skeptical tone what was expected of her, and Luke even shot Ben a gaze that he thought meant: “Why did you think bringing her here was a good idea if she doesn’t know what the deal is?”

But however reluctant he was, Luke did offer Rey a room in the same hallway as the other students, but when the Jedi master left again to see to the needs of some other students, Rey suddenly realized that Ben’s room wasn’t in the same wing.

“I’ve been put in the other wing,” he explained. “My nightmares were keeping other people awake. Still do, sometimes. But with the distance between us, some have learned to sleep through it.”

Rey wouldn’t have any of that.

“If anything, I should sleep in your hallway. I can help you in your dreams!”

She left the room she had been given and moved into the only other bedroom she found in his wing – a few doors away from his. Ben helped Rey get blankets and a pillow for her bed, and while they were moving about the old temple, some of the other students did watch Rey from a distance whenever they could, but they did not approach her. Rey thought it was odd, but realized why later on.

When evening came and they all ate together – some vegetable soup that one of the students had prepared – she realized how quiet they all were, especially considering their young ages. For a moment she thought she was the cause of it, but as the others all left the room one by one when they were done, she figured that it was normal that they did not talk much, if at all.

“Why were they so quiet?” she wondered when she and Ben were the only ones in the room. “They hardly spoke at all.”

“Most of the time, we are encouraged to remain close to our meditative state throughout the entire day,” he said. “It allows us to feel the Force better. Not to mention that emotional attachments are not really the Jedi way. We strive for harmony, peace and serenity.” He sighed. “Especially serenity.”

“You don’t like it,” Rey remarked, to which he looked up and smiled.

“You don’t either.”

She smiled back and shook her head. “No. I don’t.”

+++

That night, they saw each other in their dreams again, this time racing through the busy sky on Coruscant, chasing some bounty hunter. Ben always was the first to fall asleep and to appear in the dream, but Rey always popped up later, and he was delighted to see her as they continued the thrilling chase, but eventually lost track of the bounty hunter.

They woke at the same time, and after Rey had gotten dressed she went straight to his room.

He had already lit a light by his bed, expecting her as he stood by his window, looking out over the gardens.

As she entered, she shot him a warm smile, and he smiled back, though his mouth twitched for a moment before he said: “Uncle Luke probably would not approve of you being here already – of you being here at all.”

“You don’t mind,” she said as she looked out of the window with him, watching the sun rise in the distance.

“No, not at all.”

He combed through his thick hair before they headed outside, to explore the nature around the temple, and he showed her a beautiful forest, where they sat down to meditate.

They only meditated for a few moments, and Ben told Rey what to focus on.

“Just try to feel this rock, and lift it in the air if you can.”

He wasn’t really surprised when she succeeded within a few minutes, and before long, they had made it a game where they floated the small rock between them, back and forth, passing its control to the other for a few seconds each time before they took it back.

Rey was amazed by her own powers, and after another quiet breakfast with the rest of the students, they headed out into a field, where they were all allowed wooden sticks to fight with one another.

“I thought Jedi’s used lightsabers?” she whispered to Ben.

“We don’t really have any. We’d need Kyber crystals for that, and those are super-rare.”

Lightsaber or not, Rey enjoyed sparring with him, and he enjoyed testing her. She proved that she had been in a few fights before, surprising him with a few of her moves, but luckily she never really hit him, but always stopped the moment before impact. He was thrilled by her skill, feeling like he finally had someone to truly test himself against.

When he finally managed to disarm Rey, she surprised him by immediately summoning the stick to her hand again, like they had the rock, and he laughed as he dodged her next attack by smoothly stepping to the side. He could feel her coming a mile away sometimes, and he liked the feeling of familiarity that she sparked in him.

She was laughing too, enjoying her new-found powers, amazed by herself and how much fun it actually was to just _play_ with others. There was no real threat, no one that wanted to steal from her or hurt her for the sake of hurting her – it was just a game, and her opponent was a friend. She had seldom felt as light.

But as Luke watched them from the side of the field, he still didn’t feel the light about her. Even if Ben had not had a nightmare that night, he also saw how the boy was smiling and crushing on her, focused on no one but her, and to Luke that was a bad omen.

They were teasing each other about who was the strongest – about their victory over one another – and all Luke heard were Sith terms. Strength – Victory – Power – those were the ways of the Sith. And he could sense the passion between them, the way they were hardly able to keep their eyes off of one another, how they hadn’t even noticed him as he watched them. It was the Dark Side they were flirting with, and he wondered who the girl was and if she had been set up to do this in some way.

If she had lured Ben to her from the other side of the Galaxy, it couldn’t have been a coincidence. Perhaps she herself had been trained by the Dark Side for this deception – and it was a good deception… for how could Ben resist a beautiful girl like her? Luke wasn’t sure how to approach him about it, but he knew he had to try and keep them apart.

In the days that followed, Luke gave Rey plenty of assignments. He let her read books from the library, in the absence of the other students, who he continued his lessons with. He let her spar with the younger students, sent her to meditate on her own, but even then she was a force to be reckoned with. Her power was no less than Ben’s – and it terrified him, even if she always went easy on the younger padawans. He tried to ask her about her past and her parents, but her story was the same every time, and she was void of any significant history.

No matter what she said, he did not trust her.

Yet another part of him told him he should, but he refused to listen to it. There was simply too much at stake. He could not lose Ben to the dark side. He would not.

He tried to break it to his nephew that it was unwise to form too strong an emotional bond with anyone, as it was one of the things the Dark Side could abuse in order to win him over. Though Ben was quiet, his uncle could see the way he pursed his lips together and frowned. Luke knew he did not agree with him, even if he kept his mouth. His self-control had improved since Rey had arrived. But he didn’t know if it was a good thing or not.

+++

Two weeks after Rey’s arrival, Ben was almost asleep when he heard the door open and immediately knew it was her. Even if they had hardly spoken the past days, their bond had only grown stronger during the nights in which they had found themselves on alien planets, living moments of other Jedi before them.

Sitting up, he was surprised to see her immediately plop down at the foot of his bed and pull her feet up from the cold floor. He could sense that her gaze was on him in the starlight that came in through the window, and he pulled up the covers a bit in order to hide his bare chest from her gaze.

“It’s like we can only be together in dreams,” she sighed sadly. “I love when I see you in our dreams, but this is not what I thought it would be.”

He understood the feeling. “This is not how you imagined your stay in the temple to be, you mean?”

She nodded. “I don’t know if I want to stay, Ben.” She hesitated for a few moments, but sensing that he was curious to hear her speak, she continued: “I have been alone my entire life – for as long as I can remember. These things that Luke yammers on about – this isolation and serenity and absence of emotions in order to become a good Jedi – that’s what my entire life has been like already. But it’s not what I want it to remain like!” She sounded upset now, but kept her voice down. “I cried myself to sleep on Jakku – every night – until I met you in my dreams. And I have not cried myself to sleep since then, except for yesterday, because I felt utterly alone again. I don’t want to cry myself to sleep tonight because I feel alone. That’s not what I want at all.”

She sounded so distraught that he immediately crawled out from underneath the sheets and moved closer to her, taking her hands in his, and she smiled at the sensation. She loved it when he touched her. It was comforting.

“I don’t want this either,” he admitted slowly. “I’ve been thinking about it. I’m not serene or without emotion – like Luke wants us to be – and the harder I try to be that way, the angrier I become. It’s not working at all for me - and I know one thing… I don’t even want to be without emotion or passion, and I don’t want to be angry all the time either!”

She shifted a little where she sat, but remained quiet, agreeing with him.

“Maybe that’s why I found you in the Force,” he continued. “We were both so miserable and alone… Maybe… the Force brought us together.”

There was no ‘maybe’ about it in his mind. But he didn’t want to come on too strong either. He didn’t want to overwhelm her with the thought that they were meant to be, even if that was what he felt inside his heart.

She inched a little closer to him, her eyes now resting on his chest and stomach for a few moments before she looked into his eyes again, not sure what to say precisely as she leaned into him.

The closer she got, the faster his heart beat. Her head was tilted up towards his, her lips inviting him to something that terrified him a little bit. Gulping the fear of rejection away, he closed the distance between them and gently kissed her on her sweet lips.

How anyone could think passion was evil, was beyond him after that kiss. There was no better feeling in the world – nothing that had ever made him feel as loved and welcome and appreciated as her soft lips moving over his. They were hardly touching beyond that, and he was fine with that – until Rey suddenly broke their kiss to move into his lap, and he wasn’t certain what was going on until she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pressed her own chest to his, her kisses needy now as she tangled her fingers in his hair.

Maybe it was the bond between them, but he could feel how much she needed him – how much she wanted him – how big the void inside her heart was, and how she was trying to fill it with all of him. He wanted to give her what she wanted, but a kiss would not do it, nor would anything more than a kiss do it either.

“Rey,” he whispered, holding back for a moment.

Picking up on his hesitation, she gulped. She had gone too fast – and perhaps he had not felt like her at all. As she realized her mistake, she crawled out of his lap, and as he did not protest to that either, she was certain that this was not what he had wanted then.

He immediately grabbed onto her hand though, and even if she wanted to get away now, she could not resist looking at him in the dark.

“I love you,” he whispered with a gentle smile, shifting about until he sat on his knees in front of her, both his hands around hers.

The anxious feeling ebbed away immediately, and she felt her heart flutter at his words.

“Really?” she heard herself ask, a part of her still unable to believe anyone could love her, even if she could sense it within him.

“I do,” he replied, sweetly kissing her forehead for a brief moment.

She closed her eyes, feeling tears well up in them now. “I love you too,” she whispered back, knowing that she loved this boy with all she had.

“Then let’s not be Jedi’s,” he whispered. “Let’s just love – and feel passion.”

“Will we turn into Sith then?” she worried in a quiet tone. “I don’t want to become evil.”

He shook his head. “We can be something in between. Something more… balanced.”

“Has that been done before?”

“I think so,” he replied. “There are those who left the Jedi Order and didn’t join the Sith either.”

She was relieved to hear that, and nodded, becoming more certain with every passing second. “So we leave this place behind then?”

He nodded in agreement. “Yes. In fact, let’s sneak out to Luke’s ship.”

“We’re stealing a ship?” Rey asked, her voice a little higher than usual and she licked her lips nervously.

He chuckled. “No, silly. We’re sending a message to my dad. He’ll pick us up.”

“And then where do we go?” she wondered.

He shrugged. “We could go and hunt Jedi artefacts? Our powers should allow us to pick up their presence in the Force. Or we can look for some Kyber crystals for the other padawans. They’re going to need lightsabers if they ever want to leave this temple and protect other people.”

“I want a lightsaber too,” Rey said excitedly. “Like that Sith Lord we saw in that dream of a few nights back, a double-sided one.”

“Darth Maul’s one?” Ben asked with a half-grin. “I thought you said you didn’t want to become a Sith.”

She rolled her eyes. “Mine will be green. I’m really good at fighting with staffs.”

“Mine will have a cross-guard,” he told her proudly. “I read up on how to make those years ago. There are ancient books on how to build it, and it looked doable. And they look awesome.”

They both chuckled, before they grew quiet again as they looked at each other in the darkness. Leaning in once more, they gave one more sweet kiss to one another, but when they broke the kiss, they also realized that it would be wrong to give into more desires right now. And they had other things to focus on.

“Let’s go talk to my dad,” Ben said as he got up and looked for his shirt. “I bet it might not be easy to convince him to pick us up for this reason.” 

+++

As difficult as they had imagined it to be to convince Han Solo, was as easy it was. Though Ben found it difficult at first to admit that Luke’s teachings weren’t helping him much, he was surprised to see that Han actually agreed.

“You can’t learn to be a man by living in isolation,” Han agreed immediately. “I thought sending you to Luke would help you get a grip on those nightmares, but Luke wasn’t the answer. She is.”

As the small hologram of Han smiled at Rey, she felt happier than ever.

“And your mom has missed you,” Han added. “Was quite jealous to find out we had gone on a little mission together. But you’ve been gone from home for so long – and seeing how little it has helped you, hurt me. I want to do right by you, Ben. If you want to come home, you can. If you want to have adventures of your own, I can hook you up with a fine ship of your own. What’s most important is that you know how much your mom and I love you. We’ll help you every step of the way.”

Ben’s lip trembled from emotion, and he felt a lump in his throat that made it impossible to speak. Instead, he just nodded.

“How soon can you be here?” Rey asked, deciding to divert the attention away from Ben as he tried not to cry, and after Han told them he’d be there in a day, and urged them to talk to Luke about this too, Rey moved to Ben and sat down in his lap again.

As he wrapped his arms around her, he rested his head against hers, and she pressed a few kisses to his cheeks.

“You alright?” she asked sweetly.

“Just emotional,” he explained. “I haven’t felt this loved in years. I never thought I’d have… _this_. It’s a little terrifying, to be honest.”

As they hugged each other tightly, she whispered: “It’s just what you needed… What we both needed.”

+++

The following morning, Luke immediately wanted to break them up again, handing Rey some books to study while he told Ben to go and meditate with the other padawans, but they both didn’t move as they looked at Luke and said: “We need to talk.”

A few moments later, they were outside, sitting underneath the oldest tree in the gardens, on the other side of the building from where the other padawans were. Though Luke was quiet, it was clear that his mind was reeling at what they would say.

“My nightmares have been less since Rey has arrived,” Ben said slowly, hoping Luke would at least agree to that, and it seemed he did as he nodded.

“She’s a good influence on me, uncle,” he continued bravely. “I’m feeling happier than ever – lighter than ever.”

“But?” Luke asked, already sensing that this was not a good-news call for him.

“I’m not staying here. And neither is Rey. I’m going home. I miss mom and dad, and the more I tried to distance myself from that, the darker my thoughts became. I don’t think I’ll ever be a Jedi, but I won’t be a Sith either. I want to step away from it all, with Rey.”

As he looked at Rey by his side, she smiled gently, and her hand immediately reached for his.

“We’ll be something in-between,” she agreed, turning to Luke. “Something balanced between passion and peace.”

Luke seemed angry, but he did not voice it. He merely nodded.

As Ben and Rey waited, they realized Luke was eerily quiet. “Are you alright with this, uncle?”

“I’m upset that you do not heed my warnings,” the Jedi admitted. “I’m afraid you’ll fall victim to the Dark Side this way.”

“You’re afraid?” Rey asked, narrowing her eyes. She was reminded of a dream of earlier that week, where she and Ben had found herself in the Jedi council, being judged by Yoda, and his words immediately came to mind. “Fear leads to anger – anger leads to hate – hate leads to suffering.”

“Who told you that?” Luke asked, his own eyes narrowed as well now.

“Master Yoda did,” Rey said with a nonchalant shrug, and she ignored Luke’s confused look.

“You already said you were upset,” Ben added, crossing his arms rather defensively. “To be honest, I don’t think we’re the only ones at risk of falling to the Dark Side.”

“I’ve been able to keep the Dark Side at bay my entire life,” Luke said through gritted teeth, turning away from Rey. “I’ll manage a while longer. But it’s like the two of you don’t even want to try to resist temptation.”

They were quiet at those words, and even contemplated for a moment if they were giving in too easily. But then Ben reached out for Rey’s hand, and she took his immediately.

“We’ll be stronger resisting it together than in total solitude,” Ben said softly. “I’m sorry, uncle. I think this is the only path for me that doesn’t lead to the Dark Side.”

Luke seemed offended.

“Your way is not my way,” Ben added, trying to be gentle in the way he put it. “We have no quarrel with you, but we will not be stopped either. We’re leaving as soon as my dad comes.”

“And then what?”

“Then we’ll find out what we’re meant to be, uncle. And we’ll try and help you, if we can. If you let us.”

Luke still wasn’t fine with any of the news they had brought, but dismissed them, and they headed to the library together, now that they still could. They wanted to gather some information about old Jedi temples in order to plan their own adventures across the galaxy.

Luke hadn’t given up completely though, and so when Han came to pick up Ben and Rey, Luke tried to make Han see the dangers of letting them go, but Han’s response was short: “You can’t force them to become Jedi against their will. Maybe they change their mind in a few months or years, and maybe they’ll get back to you then, once they realize the state the universe is in. But maybe they won’t. And it’s not up to you to decide what their life should be. Nor is it up to me. It’s up to them. They’re old enough now. And I’m going to try and support them so they have a shot at happiness. That’s all I’m willing to say about it.”

“But if they fall into the hands of the Dark Side, the entire universe could be at risk,” Luke warned him, but Han shook his head.

“If they stay here and fall into the hands of the Dark Side, they’ll be a larger threat, because they hate it here already. They don’t want to stay. I won’t stand in their way. I suggest you don’t either.”

That made Luke shut up – though the argument was probably far from over.

“Don’t be a stranger, Luke. Call your sister, she misses you.”

+++

Han’s presence was a massive comfort to both Ben and Rey. Even Chewbacca made them feel wanted and loved, and for the moments they spent together, they felt like they were part of something bigger than themselves – maybe even part of an actual family.

“So why Ahch-To?” Han wondered after they had travelled for half a day already.

“Because of its connection to the Force,” Ben explained. “It was the location of the first Jedi Temple – and rumor has it that there is a particular Force-sensitive tree there that would be perfect for meditating.”

Han raised an eyebrow. “You wanna travel somewhere to meditate? I thought you hated meditation.”

Rey chuckled, realizing that Han was right. Ben wasn’t particularly fond of sitting around and doing nothing.

“This isn’t normal meditation,” Ben said with a small smile. “We’re trying to figure out our dreams.”

“Aren’t we all?” Han replied, but Rey shook her head.

“Not like that. We mean our literal dreams – it seems like they’re always filled with the same two people.”

“Maybe not always,” Ben added. “But most of the times, yes. I know one of them is Obi-Wan Kenobi, but I have no idea who his padawan is.”

“We’re hoping to figure it out,” Rey continued for him, smiling at Han, but she noticed how his gaze had frozen now, and he was hardly breathing.

Even Ben noticed, and he frowned as well.

“Dad?”

Han immediately snapped out of it. “Obi-Wan Kenobi, huh? Did you know that he actually travelled aboard the Millennium Falcon once?”

This seemed to pique the interest of both Ben and Rey, and they listened eagerly as Han told them about how he had met Obi-Wan Kenobi in Mos Eisley, and how he had met Luke thanks to him.

Ben knew some parts of the story already, since he was named after the man, but for Rey it was all new, and she loved the story. So much, even, that she didn’t realize Han was still keeping things from them.

By the time she and Ben went to sleep, Han had already opened a channel of communication with Leia.

“I hope I’m wrong…” he admitted to her hologram as she looked at him with a worried expression. “But I fear Ben might find out what we’ve been trying to protect him from. Are you sure we shouldn’t tell him before he finds out from the Force itself?”

“If we do, we should tell him together – or in fact, maybe I should tell him alone,” she said with a sigh. “It has nothing to do with you.”

“I’m his father and your husband… I think I can help in some way, Leia.”

“I don’t want him to blame you,” Leia said softly, and Han smiled.

“He might if we don’t tell him together. Let me take my responsibility in this as well. I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

She appreciated his concern and smiled sadly, before she asked: “Where are you headed?”

+++

Ahch-To was the most beautiful place Rey had ever seen, and it didn’t take too long for them to find the Jedi tree they had read about. Han stayed behind in the Millennium Falcon with Chewbacca as Ben and Rey hiked up the ancient stone stairs, already sensing the location of the tree in the Force itself.

They were quiet during their climb, and even as they approached the tree they did not speak. Instead, they sensed within each other how their goals were aligned, and they were both eager to get some answers.

Luke had once revealed to Ben he could speak to Force Ghosts, but he had never particularly bothered to explain how Ben himself could do this too. But perhaps now that he was on this island, with Rey by his side, it would be easier. He felt like there wasn’t anything they couldn’t do if they set their mind to it.

Once they entered the tree, they were impressed by its massive size, and they felt small. Holding each other’s hands, they stepped further inside, until they were in the middle of the hollow tree, and they both closed their eyes for a few moments as they sensed the Force all around them.

This would be the perfect spot, and as they sat down, they shot each other one final gaze before they closed their eyes again and started the meditation. To their own surprise, it didn’t take long before they saw each other sitting there, even with their eyes closed, and two spirits were by their sides.

While Rey noticed that Obi-Wan Kenobi stood by her side, Ben noticed that the padawan was by his side now, and both of these bluish figures placed their hands on their shoulders at the same time, and it appeared like they became full human beings then. No longer ghosts, but living and breathing beside them, fully conscious, and smiling warmly at them.

As Obi-Wan Kenobi smiled and sat down by Rey’s side, she looked at him in awe.

“It’s almost like you’re really here,” she whispered.

“Perhaps I am,” the Jedi replied mysteriously, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. “I’m glad that you came to talk to us. Both of you.”

As he looked at Ben, the young man turned his head to look at the padawan by his side. Unwilling to even try and be subtle about this, he asked: “Who _are_ you?”

The tall, young man looked at Obi-Wan for a brief moment, before he looked back at Ben.

“Anakin,” he replied, but as Obi-Wan cleared his throat meaningfully, he continued. “Anakin Skywalker.”

This confused Ben. “You’re family?” he wondered.

Anakin nodded. “Actually, yes. Your grandfather.”

Ben was very quiet for a few moments. He knew his mother had been raised by Bail Organa, and that Luke had been raised by his uncle Owen, but they had always said they had never known their real father. They probably hadn’t even known he was a Jedi – but was he?

Ben knew that this Anakin had fought Obi-Wan plenty of times, that he wasn’t just a Jedi, but that he had a lot of darkness within as well. He had seen so in his dreams, but then who was he precisely?

“Are you my grandfather?” Rey suddenly asked eagerly as she looked at Obi-Wan, and he scratched his beard with a chuckle.

“As a matter of fact…”

Rey gasped at that. “I have a grandfather? My grandfather is Obi-Wan Kenobi?” She seemed terribly excited by that, but suddenly calmed down as she asked: “Do you know my parents? Do you know where they are?”

Obi-Wan’s gaze sobered, and he said: “I’m afraid that what we have to say is not going to be happy news for either of you. But please know that we care about you – that we will look after you in the Force – and that you can always talk to us in your dreams or meditations.”

“It’s not a nice universe,” Anakin added. “But we hope you can learn from our mistakes – from our knowledge. Though it might not seem so at first, perhaps it can bring you both peace.”

Both Ben and Rey felt a little anxious at those words, but nodded.

“You’re both so very young,” Obi-Wan continued. “Already burdened with so much power by the Force. We lived in times when things were still very different – when there were hundreds of Jedi throughout the Universe, but they still were no match for the Dark Side of the Force. I lost Anakin to it. His power drew the attention of the Dark Side, and he was manipulated from a very young age. I’m afraid that your nightmares are not just your own, Ben.”

Ben gulped at that and looked to Anakin as he continued explaining.

“There’s someone trying to win you over – someone out there who’s somehow putting these images in your head of murder and betrayal, who tries to reinforce the idea that some people don’t care about you, even when they do,” Anakin placed his hand on Ben’s shoulder, and he was unable to look away. “I was lured in in a similar way, and lost myself to the Dark Side for decades. You must resist it. Be stronger than me.”

Though he nodded, he was still confused.

“Should we go back to Luke?” Rey wondered. “Complete the Jedi training?”

Both Anakin and Obi-Wan shook their heads.

“No. The Jedi Path makes it easier for people to seduce you to the Dark side,” Anakin replied. “When you are dying of loneliness, it’s very easy to fall for someone’s manipulations when they are the only ones to allow you to love whoever you like. Don’t let anyone dictate your way of life, but don’t thank a Sith Lord for allowing you something that you should be doing without their approval.”

Obi-Wan nodded. “I lived my life by the Jedi code, tried to do so until the day I died – but we were taught not to love – only to have compassion.”

“But they are part of one another,” Anakin interjected.

“And the Jedi lived such a life of purity that we were unable to see darkness when it stood right in front of us. We were blindsided for such a long time, thinking the Force would aid us, but we were blind to the darkness. Our path was proven to be a false one.”

Both Ben and Rey understood that.

“We kind of felt that ourselves,” Rey admitted. “We wanted to forge our own path.”

Obi-Wan smiled warmly. “That’s a good idea.”

As Rey looked at him, she gulped again. “But my parents? Are they still alive?”

The former Jedi shook his head sadly. “I’m afraid not, Rey. Your family is gone. But you still have me.”

“How did they die?” she wondered, not allowing herself to mourn them just yet.

“They were chased – by someone who was after you, actually. As a child, you had nightmares too, and your parents took you away to Jakku, to hide you for a moment so they could deal with a Bounty Hunter that had been hired to capture you. Eventually, they blew up their own ship in order to get him off your trail – and it worked. He thought you had died along with them, and no one ever searched for you again after that.”

There was a small tear in her eye as she heard that story, and she did not realize how Ben was looking at her with wide eyes. To hear that she too had been plagued by nightmares as a child, that she had been as powerful as him all along, made his heart ache for her.

“You’re not alone, Rey,” Obi-Wan assured her, and she nodded bravely.

“I know. I also have Ben.”

As she looked up and smiled at him, he smiled back in return, his heart jumping.

But he reminded himself of what Obi-Wan had said before.

“So what other bad news did you need to tell us?” he wondered.

Obi-Wan and Anakin exchanged a few glances, but eventually it was Anakin who spoke up.

“Your mother and your uncle have known about me for a while – since before you were born. But the shame of being my offspring was too great for them, and so they kept it hidden from you and the rest of the universe. Though Luke forgave me before I died, I’m afraid I never got to have a second chance with your mother – nor should she give me one. What I did in my lifetime was horrible. I have tortured and murdered and committed genocide. I brought fear to the universe and killed my own old friends.”

“Even me,” Obi-Wan sighed, and only when this was said aloud, did Ben make the click.

He had heard the stories of Obi-Wan’s final moments, and upon realizing who Anakin Skywalker truly was, he suddenly crawled up as fast as he could, and the next moment, Rey saw him disappear as he broke the meditation.

As she still was without answers, she desperately turned to Anakin for answers, and he seemed pained that Ben had broken their link. Turning to Rey, he said: “I’m truly sorry – but those words can never mean enough. Not to Ben, and certainly not to his mother. They have no single reason to forgive me for what I did, and I could never ask for forgiveness, only for some sort of understanding. I hope Ben can learn from my mistakes and keep out of the claws of the Dark Side. He deserves so much better than me.”

Rey nodded, even if she still didn’t understand why Ben had reacted so fiercely. “But who were you then?”

Obi-Wan answered for him. “Darth Vader. My apprentice once – but I was not in time to stop the Dark Side from manipulating him. Please protect Ben better than I did Anakin. Please look after him.”

Rey gulped, but nodded, and broke the connection the moment after, immediately realizing that the ground had begun to shake and the entire tree seemed to be creaking under the stress.

In front of her, she saw Ben, his hands pressed against his eyes as he cried miserably, unable to get a hold on his emotions, even if he was wide awake.

The earth rumbled, and Rey was by his side in an instant, wrapping her arms tightly around his shoulders, glad that he did not respond negatively to it.

She could hear Han calling out for Ben, and when he ran inside the hollow tree, he almost stumbled as the ground shook extra violently.

Everything stopped shaking the moment that a female voice could be heard as well, and Rey saw how an older women ran after Han, holding onto him for support as they made their way over to Ben.

It wasn’t hard to see – or sense – that she was Ben’s mother, and Rey was confused as to how she had gotten here. Ben, however, looked up from Rey’s embrace, his eyes red as he sniffed and looked up at his mother.

“Ben, sweetheart,” Leia said as she dropped by her son’s side and took his hands in hers, empathically wrapping them around his. “I’m so sorry.”

The ground still shook every now and then, but it seemed like Ben was trying to control it – for her.

“You knew all along?” he asked in a broken voice. “That I was like him? Is that why you sent me away?”

Those questions and the thoughts that came with it, made everything shake a little harder again, and it even appeared like the tree was breaking, for every now and then a loud crack could be heard, like the wood was being torn apart from the inside.

Leia had tears in her eyes as well. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I couldn’t.”

Rey had her hand on Ben’s back now, sensing his pain.

“He didn’t die a villain,” she said softly, and it seemed like those words hurt Leia more than anything, and she quickly added: “Not that he was a hero… But he was a Jedi once… They just lost him to the Dark Side, for too long a time. By the time Luke brought him back, it was too late. The evil had been done.”

Leia nodded slowly, agreeing. “I can never think of him as a good person. He tortured me – destroyed Alderaan – killed Obi-Wan Kenobi and did so many more evil things… the thought of being related to him… It hurts more than anything.”

Ben cried at those words, shaking his head. “I’m just like him. His strength – even the Dark Side has been trying to lure me in.”

“You’re not like him!” Rey argued fiercely. “He was blind to what was going on – the Jedi around him weren’t able to protect him – but we can protect you! You can learn from his mistakes! You already are learning!”

“What’s that about the Dark Side?” Han asked warily, gulping as he had sat himself by Leia’s side and had his hand on her shoulder. “Are they really trying to lure you in?”

Ben nodded again, but the earth had once more stopped shaking at the realization that maybe he wasn’t lost just yet. “Obi-Wan and Anakin said so… And I’ve been feeling it for so long… Those nightmares aren’t mine – even as a child, I did not cause them.”

Leia sobbed again, her hand in front of her mouth as she tried not to make it worse.

“I know,” she whimpered. “I have always sensed it. Since before you were born. I just wish I could have protected you better.”

As Ben looked at his parents, part of him wanted to lash out, blame them for dumping him with Luke, but as he saw his mother cry, he suddenly realized why she had not taken on that responsibility herself. She was not trained in the Force, and his father hardly understood it, even if he tried. They could not have helped him at all.

“It’s not your fault,” he said slowly. “I know that you could not have protected me. At least Luke was able to help a little bit – just not in the long run.”

“But you know now what it is,” Rey said softly. “And you’re not alone. You have me, Obi-Wan, even Anakin’s help. We can hold the Dark Side off. I’m certain of it.”

As she spoke so hopefully, Ben could not help but smile at her, and as he turned to his parents, he saw that they were smiling too at her. They liked her – and how could they not? She had kept him sane the past year.

“Mom, dad,” he said with a small smile. “Rey is Obi-Wan Kenobi’s granddaughter.”

Both Han and Leia looked completely surprised at that news.

“I thought he was a hermit!” was the first thing Han said, though he looked incredibly amused at the same time. “When did he get a kid then?”

Ben shrugged. “We haven’t asked yet.”

Leia’s smile had only turned warmer, and she put her hand on Rey’s for a moment. “Did you know that we named Ben after your grandfather?”

Rey nodded, but Han frowned as he asked in a compassionate tone: “And your parents then? Are they still alive?”

As she shook her head again, he too put his hand on her shoulder, and with both Leia and Han trying to comfort her, it somehow ached less than she would have expected.

“I can’t remember them,” she said sadly. “Maybe that’s for the best. That I can’t remember having a family. I bet it would hurt more.”

“Well…” Han looked at Leia for a small moment, her small smile all the encouragement he needed. “You have one now… A little late perhaps, and we’re not the most functional family in the universe, but you have helped Ben, and for that we can’t thank you enough.”

Han always managed to move her with his words, and as tears came to her eyes, Ben also put his hand on her shoulder, and before they knew it, they were all hugging and holding onto one another, with tears falling on many sides.

It was bittersweet, but at least there were no more secrets between them – and it was a relief to them all.

+++

There were still a bazillion questions that Rey and Ben had for Obi-Wan and Anakin, and so they remained on Ahch-To a while longer than they had first anticipated. Leia and Han didn’t mind leaving them behind for a few days and agreed to pick them up again while they remained on the island, meditating, training, and just exploring the many small, abandoned huts that were left.

They did ask both Anakin and Obi-Wan what they thought was the right path, and learned that they too now believed a middle-path was better for them than following either the Jedi or Sith doctrines.

When it came to passion, it was not something they discouraged, and this was a relief to them, for they were only growing closer to one another, and in the absence of any parental figures, nothing could stop them from spending their nights together – and as they spent large parts of the day meditating, sleep was not on their mind in the moments when darkness fell over the island.

They could not get enough of the love and beauty that the other had to offer them, and lost themselves in bliss for most of the nights, while a fire crackled in the middle of the hut and their clothes lay near the entrance. It was hard to think of evil when they had each other.

By the time they left Ahch-To, only several weeks had passed, but it felt like months, and they had both wizened beyond their years. While Han remained by Leia’s side on Hosnian Prime, they got the aid of Chewbacca as they travelled the universe, trying to unravel more secrets of the Force.

And when they returned to Luke nearly a full year later, he was relieved to sense that they had not been lost to the Dark Side, though he wasn’t quite sure how to feel about them being together, in love, and seemingly happy. It was a grim reminder of what he could have had, had he not chosen to follow the footsteps of Yoda, who remained a devout believer in the Light Side, even if Anakin and Obi-Wan now held different beliefs. He had created a distance between himself and everyone he had ever loved, including Leia and Han.

Sensing this in him, Ben and Rey suggested to teach the padawans for a while, so he could go and visit his old friends, and to their surprise, Luke actually accepted.

It was a sign of trust – and a sign of hope – and they knew that Obi-Wan and Anakin were pleased as well.

They knew there were still battles to come. They could feel the Dark Side growing stronger, even if they could not sense where – but whatever would come, they would face it, together. And they wouldn’t be alone. They would _never_ be alone again.

**The End**


End file.
